Golf practice course structure

ABSTRACT

In a golf practice course structure including a golf round simulation unit equipped with a simulation system including a player&#39;s tee area, a golf ball sensor, a controller and a display, and a putting green unit configured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a real golf course, the golf round simulation unit includes an opening part at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player can check flight of the golf ball by naked eye after hitting the golf ball. The display is installed at a predetermined position other than the front side, for the player to conveniently check, and the putting green unit includes flat parts and hill parts properly combined 3-dimensionally, a plurality of cups, and a locating coordinate for checking of respective positions of the flat parts, the hill parts and the cups.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a structure of a golf practice course,and more particularly to a golf practice course structure capable ofbeing installed even in a small space while enhancing putting touch andreality of a golf game, by comprising a golf round simulation systemhaving an opened front side, and one actual putting green that can beachieved in variable forms simultaneously.

In general, a golf course including totally 18 holes occupies such agreat area and requires considerable operating expenses and facilities.Accordingly, it costs a lot and requires much time to make use of thegolf course. Therefore, a player usually utilizes an indoor or outdoordriving range to practice tee-shot, iron shot, putting and so on atrelatively low cost and short time before actually going out to the golfcourse.

However, the driving range is insufficient to offer the player with aperfectly similar circumstance as the real golf course. Especially, theplayer hardly obtains a desired practicing effect from the driving rangedue to a spatial restriction.

In order to overcome the restriction, golf exercising facilities havebeen suggested as disclosed in KR Patent Registration No. 10-0647498(published on Nov. 23, 2006).

According to the golf exercising facilities of the prior art, whereas aconventional simulation system is used as it is for a practicing round,various putting greens constructed in actual forms are provided so thata player can actually practice putting with the putting greens.Therefore, reality during the practice can be improved using arelatively small space.

Nevertheless, the above facilities are still inefficient in terms ofspace utilization because a great space is required to actually installthe various types of putting greens. In addition, the facilities are notproper for application to existing indoor and outdoor driving ranges.

Especially, in a case where the practicing round is performed using theconventional simulation system, because a golf ball directly collideswith a screen disposed at a front side with respect to an advancingdirection of the golf ball hit by tee-shot or iron-shot, it isimpossible to check a flying course of the golf ball directly by nakedeyes. Furthermore, since characteristics of the hit golf ball cannot berecognized, reality or putting touch of the practice is seriouslydeteriorated. That is, shortages and limits of the conventionalsimulation system of the indoor driving range are still not overcome.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the aboveproblems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide astructure of a golf practice course enabling a player to check a flightcourse of the hit golf ball by his or her naked eyes, by providing anopening part at a front side of a golf round simulation unit(hereinafter also called a “round unit”) where advancing of the hit golfball is performed while compositely using a conventional golf roundsimulation system that includes a tee-shot area and an iron-shot area,such that the player is able to feel better reality and putting touch bydirectly checking the characteristics of the golf ball being hit.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a structure ofa golf practice course equipped with a putting green unit at a positioncontinued from the opening part disposed at the front side with respectto an advancing direction of the hit golf ball in the round unit suchthat an on-green state in the simulation system can be finished by anactual putting, thereby improving the reality, and structuring theputting green unit to comprise flat parts and hill parts which are3-dimensionally combined, and a plurality of cups. In addition, byproviding a locating coordinate for checking positions of the flatparts, the hill parts and the cups, characteristics of various types ofputting green units can be obtained with one putting green unit. Inaddition, since reality of the golf course comprising at least 18 holescan be achieved, the space can be efficiently utilized and both golfpractice and game can be achieved.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above andother objects can be accomplished by the provision of a golf practicecourse structure comprising a round unit equipped with a simulationsystem including a player's tee area, a golf ball sensor, a controllerand a display, and a putting green unit configured for the player to beable to perform putting as if on a real golf course, wherein the roundunit comprises an opening part at a front side thereof to which a hitgolf ball advances so that the player can check a flying course of thegolf ball by naked eyes after hitting the golf ball, the display isinstalled at a predetermined position other than the front side, for theplayer to conveniently check, and the putting green unit comprises flatparts and hill parts properly combined 3-dimensionally, a plurality ofcups, and a locating coordinate for checking of respective positions ofthe flat parts, the hill parts and the cups.

In addition, the putting green unit is disposed at a position continuedfrom the opening part formed at the front side to which the hit golfball advances in the round unit.

As described above, according to a golf practice course structure of thepresent invention, a player can check a flight course of the hit golfball by naked eyes since an opening part is provided at a front side ofa round unit including a tee-shot area and an iron-shot area, andaccordingly the player is able to feel better reality and putting touchby directly checking the characteristics of the golf ball. In addition,by disposing a putting green unit in the vicinity of the opening part tobe continued from the opening part, the player can finish the game by anactual putting, thereby feeling an improved reality. Furthermore, bystructuring the putting green unit to 3-dimensionally comprise aplurality of cups and a locating coordinate, various types of coursescan be achieved with the one putting green, thereby improving spaceutilization. Also, golf practice and game can be both performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view briefly showing a structure of a golf practicecourse according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view extractively showing main parts of aputting green unit applied to the golf practice course of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view briefly showing a golf practice course structureaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a golf practice course structure according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention will be described in detail withreference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3. The golf practice course structurecomprises a round unit 1 equipped with a simulation system including aplayer's tee area 10, a golf ball sensor 12, a controller 14 and adisplay 16, and a putting green unit 3 disposed adjoining the round unit1 and structured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on areal golf course.

The round unit 1 is provided with an opening part 20 (FIG. 3) at a frontside thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so that the player cancheck a flying course of the golf ball by naked eyes after hitting thegolf ball. Meanwhile, the display 16 is installed at a predeterminedposition other than the front side, for the player to convenientlycheck.

For instance, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the display 16 may beinstalled at a front of the round unit 1 so that the player at the teearea 10 and other players waiting in player seats 18 to easily view thedisplay 16.

In the putting green unit 3, flat parts 30 and hill parts 32 areproperly combined in a 3-dimensionally structure and a plurality of cups34 are additionally provided. In addition, the putting green unit 3 isprovided with a locating coordinate 36 for checking of respectivepositions of the flat parts 30, the hill parts 32 and the cups 34.

Although the putting green units 3 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 have thehill parts 32 symmetrically arranged with respect to the flat part 30disposed in the middle, this is only by way of example for a convenientexplanation. That is, the golf practice course according to the presentinvention may actually comprise various configurations of the puttinggreen units being 3-dimensionally arranged. In addition, the cups 34 aredisposed at one or more proper positions such that the putting can beperformed in variable directions from a putting position 38 according tosurface states of the positions.

The putting starting position 38 may be designated at a specificposition as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. Otherwise, the player mayperform putting after designating a position to start the puttingthrough the locating coordinate 36.

Additionally, the locating coordinate 36 may separately comprise alateral coordinate 36 a and a longitudinal coordinate 36 b each havingmeasuring scales as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, according to anotherembodiment as shown in FIG. 3, indicator lamps may be buried in a groundof the putting green unit 3, being arranged along the lateral coordinate36 a. In this case, positions on the lateral coordinate 36 a can beeasily checked even at night. Thus, the locating coordinate 36 may beconfigured in various ways depending on the circumstances. Furthermore,another sensor 40 is dedicatedly mounted to a front end of the puttinggreen unit 3. Therefore, when the golf ball being putted flies beyondthe range of the putting green unit 3, the sensor 40 detects this andmeasures a distance and a direction of the golf ball and converts thedistance and direction to a position on the locating coordinate 36.Accordingly, the putting can be continued.

Also, it is preferred that the above-structured putting green unit 3 isdisposed at a position continued from the opening part 20, that is,adjoining the opening part 20 with respect to the advancing direction ofthe golf ball in the round unit 1, such that the rounding and theputting can be successively performed and accordingly, the golf game canbe continued without suspension or interruption.

Non-described references numerals 22, 24, 26 and 28 refer to a tee-offspot, a golf ball supplier, a golf bag hanger, and an aisle,respectively.

Hereinafter, the operation of the golf practice course structureaccording to the embodiments of the present invention will be described.

At the beginning of a round, the player gets in the tee area 10 in theround unit 1 and puts the golf ball on the tee-off spot 22 to hit thegolf ball. The hit golf ball passes through the opening part 20 andadvances in the open direction in various ball flights such as a slice,a hook, a fade shot, a draw shot and so on. The player can see the golfball flying directly by his or her naked eyes and check characteristicsof the hit golf ball.

Next, the hitting performed by the player is reproductively embodied bythe simulation system simultaneously, so that a flying distance andflight of the golf ball are calculated. Accordingly, a landing positionof the golf ball is displayed through the display 16 for checking by theplayer.

While rounds are proceeded with by respective players in the same manneras in general rounds of golf, right before the putting, the player or acaddie moves and puts the golf ball in person to an actual position inthe putting green unit 3 in accordance with the position of the golfball finally displayed through the display 16 using the locatingcoordinate 36. Next, the player actually performs putting toward adesired cup 34.

The number of strokes until the golf ball reaches the putting green unit3 is calculated by the simulation system. The number of strokes withinthe putting green unit 3 may be dedicatedly input by the player or thecaddie to be calculated. A round of golf game is closed by passingthrough all courses in the above manner.

1. A golf practice course structure comprising a golf round simulationunit equipped with a simulation system comprising a player's tee area, agolf ball sensor, a controller and a display, and a putting green unitconfigured for the player to be able to perform putting as if on a realgolf course, wherein the golf round simulation unit comprises an openingpart at a front side thereof to which a hit golf ball advances so thatthe player can check flight of the golf ball by naked eye after hittingthe golf ball, the display is installed at a predetermined positionother than the front side, for the player to conveniently check, and theputting green unit comprises flat parts and hill parts properly combined3-dimensionally, a plurality of cups, and a locating coordinate forchecking of respective positions of the flat parts, the hill parts andthe cups.
 2. The golf practice course structure according to claim 1,wherein the putting green unit is disposed at a position continued fromthe opening part formed as the front side to which the hit golf balladvances in the golf round simulation unit.